Spirited Within
by AugustClouds
Summary: Haku is finally back only to be summoned away again, but Chihiro won't let him go that easily - she's going back with him, even if it means that she'd have to relive the Spirit World with deadly new surprises and more than she ever bargained for.HakuxChih


**Soo, this is my first Spirited Away fic and yeah also my first not-oneshot.**

**I don't own Spirited Away, but I hope you enjoy this and _please _review because then I'd know I'm on the right track and I can continue this story! If not then...**

**Well we'll see.**

Spirited Within

He smiled at her.

Those same, unsettling green eyes that gazed intently at her had aged considerably since the last time they had met, many years ago. Instead of bearing the look of the same innocent lost soul there was more sorrow, pain and a longing that was evident in his penetrating stare. Like the once young boy had seen too much in his lifetime. His dark hair was messy and short, different from when she had last seen him and he had noticeably grown much taller – he looked like a young man.

At sixteen Chihiro could not decipher the illusions that plagued her constantly between the vision of Haku merely inches in front of her. For years she had dreamed of this day, each an every detail carefully thought out. Now that it had come, Chihiro had a hard time believing it was real.

And when he spoke, she almost broke down in tears – almost.

'Chihiro', his voice was rougher and deeper than she remembered.

'Haku…' she replied, her voice quivering slightly, after all those times where she had seen him, only to find out disappointingly that he was nothing more than a sheer illusion – he was finally real, she found it hard to suppress her tears and she noticed that there was a huge lump that had settled itself in her throat. She felt her brain was on the brink of exploding.

She ran to him, flung her arms tightly around his neck as she sobbed heartily into his shirt. Haku was somewhat startled, though he settled for wrapping his arms around her waist trying to comfort her.

He smiled softly. He had not expected Chihiro to remember him, after a long and tiring six years. He had finally found a way into the human world, bypassed the laws that held the barrier between the spirit world and his one and only true love – though he had yet to admit it.

Yubaba, however, had been one of his greatest challenges. That witch did not take lightly to being beaten. Once Chihiro had reminded Haku of his real name-Kohaku River- escaped Yubaba's wrath and returned home, Yubaba had been downright furious. She had used every ounce of magic in her to vent out her anger and ensure that Haku suffered a miserable fate and it had taken him this long to overthrow her and fulfill his promise to Chihiro.

'I'm sorry I took so long' He soothed, hoping to calm down Chihiro, though he was secretly pleased that she had missed him that much. Still who's to say she was still in love with him? after all she was only ten when they had last seen each other and Haku was pretty sure that the love he felt for her was something much deeper than it had been six years ago.

'I've missed you…' Chihiro whispered, her sobbing had quieted down and she loosened her grip, looking carefully at him, like she was afraid he would disappear again.

'I've missed you too' Haku grinned, taking Chihiro's hand and leading her towards the river bank. She had been out here – just a few miles down from the entrance of the spirit world- using the field as a haven. Chihiro normally came here to escape what felt like her incomplete and empty life, that was, until Haku showed up.

Chihiro eyed the scars on Haku's arms and flinched slightly, earning a worrying glance from him. 'Where did you get those from?' she asked tentatively, checking his face for any sign of emotion.

Haku sighed; he might as well tell her now that she had asked, though he was hoping that they could catch up a bit more before he had to tell her… _this._ He looked away, ashamed by any sign of weakness that she might see in his eyes.

'It all started the day you left…'

--

Haku looked away.

Like a dark cloud, a heavy burden had crossed his perfectly bright and sunny day. Chihiro hated to be the one to ruin their reunion, but she had an unsettling feeling that those scars had scarred more than just Haku's bare skin. She had to know the reason why he was away for so long. She knew it was selfish, but whatever had happened had kept him from her long enough. She needed reassurance that Haku wasn't just holding back on her all these years.

'It all started the day you left…' he paused, as if unsure how to continue, before dipping his bare feet into the cool flowing water of the river- somehow the wet feeling calmed him, he was, a river spirit after all. 'After the contract I had was destroyed- that happened shortly after you left- Yubaba was reluctant to let me go, even though the rules of the bathhouse stated that I was free from my apprenticeship under her. She tried everything she could to restrain me, keep me in any sort of form at the bathhouse, until she found a way…'

Haku stopped, took a deep breath and gazed up at the sky, the sun was setting and the sky was darkening, it was a beautiful sight to see – freedom, something he had been denied for so long.

'I had no place to go, I was a lost spirit whose river had been destroyed and I had been with Yubaba for countless of years – she had provided me with a home when no one else would. Under those sole conditions, she was permitted to keep me as her slave at the bathhouse for a minimum of two years.'

'If she was only allowed to make you her slave for two years, then why…' Chihiro trailed off, slightly confused, though she knew there was another much darker side to the story. She braced herself for what Haku said next.

'Yubaba forced me to use my magic, to steal, lie and kill for her, like she had done before when I was just a mere puppet under her mighty spell. Although this time, the force of my action hit me much harder than before – my conscience knew what I was doing to innocent people, though my heart pushed me to stay on, so that one day I could end it all and see you again.'

Haku turned to look Chihiro in the eye, she noticed something had visibly changed about him; his aura had become much wearier, much harsher, like he found it unbearable to relive his memories. 'Chihiro, I killed spirit after spirit until I could stand it no more, and at the end of the two years I stomped into Yubaba's office and told her that this was my final goodbye and that I would never be her petty slave ever again.'

Chihiro noticed his clenched fists; she instinctively put her hand on his, to offer comfort, to relieve him of the pain that he felt. She wanted to tell him to stop, to tell him that it was okay, but she just _had_ to know the rest of the story. She felt it was her obligation, to know his pain too, so that _she_ could feel it – so that he wasn't the only one that would suffer.

'That's when she trapped me, turns out that during those two years she had figured out how to conveniently trap a lost spirit without using any spells. You see, Chihiro, once I knew my name no one could control me unless I was under contract, however Yubaba had some other form of evil up her sleeve, a _Spirit Chalice_.' He spat in a disgusted tone.

'What's that?' Chihiro asked, aware of the hateful tone Haku had taken on when he mentioned it.

'The Spirit Chalice is one of a spirit's worst enemies. It absorbs all magic power within you and uses it to slowly destroy your spirit form, though this process of decomposition varies in time depending on how strong a spirit is.'

'Yubaba used the Spirit Chalice to render me completely helpless and trapped me in one of her most powerful Spirit prisons, deep under the bathhouse. For many years the Chalice ate away at me and slowly I began to degrade, Yubaba used her magic to torture me too when she felt the process was becoming too slow. The other factor that affected the rate at which the Chalice absorbed my power was my willpower and Yubaba made pretty damn sure that I had as little of it as I could get.'

'The worst thing about that prison was that it was located in the basement of waste food. All the remains of the spirit food would drop down there around me, tormenting me, because that hell of a prison was as translucent as a bubble and everywhere I looked I could not escape the remains of food that sat there in heaps just _staring_ at me.' Haku shuddered at the memory.

'At first I set my mind of finding ways to escape, but Yubaba's magic was too strong and my magic was restricted since the Chalice was near. Gradually, after a few years I had weakened and I thought of ways to send a distress signal, though the only person that came down here was Yubaba's slave – an old frog spirit that collected the waste food and dumped it into the surrounding river.'

'One day, on the eve of my third year in that hell, Kamaji came into the basement. He waddled on in muttering something about having to leave the boiler room because the slave was sick, and then he saw me.'

Chihiro breathed a sigh of relief; _thank god for Kamaji _she silently blessed him for returning Haku to her –whole, even if he was still somewhat disheveled from the whole ordeal.

'Kamaji saved me, just like he had six years ago when he gave you the train tickets to visit Zeniba, he knocked the Chalice from where it floated with one of his many hands and Yubaba's bubble of a prison popped, after that Kamaji knew there was no time to waste he took me back to the boiler room and fed me with as much spirit food as he could, he had Lin help him too.'

Haku felt so grateful towards them, they were his only friends at the bathhouse as they had been Chihiro's friends too. He knew that one day he would have to repay all they had done for the two. He laced his fingers through Chihiro's and noticed her redden slightly but other than that she didn't seem to mind. Smiling contentedly, he continued;

'After that I was able to regain my strength pretty quickly, it seems that, you, Chihiro, had kept me alive and that the Spirit Chalice had a hard time absorbing most of my power since I had such great feelings for you.'

Haku could not believe that he had just said that, he hoped Chihiro hadn't noticed but it was clear by the look on her face that she had. He searched her eyes for any sign that she felt the same way but all he found was confusion. Haku decided that it was time to tell her how he really felt.

'Chihiro- I…'

'Master Kohaku, Yubaba has escaped!'

--

'_Master Kohaku, Yubaba has escaped!'_

Chihiro turned around only to see nothing. _Where had that voice come from?_ she thought.

'Don't worry, Loy, I'll be there' Haku spoke.

'W-Where did that come from?' Chihiro asked, surprised

'It's telepathic communication, though it seems that you can hear it too – which means that the bond we have created must be very strong. Though now Chihiro, I must leave, Yubaba has escaped in the Spirit world and I swore that I would never let such evil roam our land ever again.' Haku replied, getting up and walking towards the caved entrance to the spirit world.

'Haku, wait! You can't leave me, not after you just got back' Chihiro scrambled up from where she was sitting and chased after Haku who was walking up the trail towards the forest where the spirit world entrance was located.

Haku turned abruptly and waited for the now-panting Chihiro to catch up to him. She bent down to press her palms on her knees whilst trying to regain her breath; Haku had almost forgotten how limited humans were compared to spirits. He lifted her chin slightly so she was looking straight at him; a gentle smile graced his lips, 'As much as I would give anything in the world to be here, with you, Yubaba had put me through a torturous time and the year I spent before returning to you was to lock her up for good, so she never had the chance to repeat what she had done to me to any other spirit ever again.'

'Now that she's escaped…' Haku turned to look towards the cave entrance, it was not far away and he could see the trees around the stone statue's rustle with uneasiness, like they knew a storm was brewing.

Haku turned back to Chihiro who was now standing upright, her sad eyes making it irresistible to stay. 'I have to go back; I have to be rid of that monster of a witch once and for all'

'I know you have to, but if you're going, I'm coming with you' Chihiro replied firmly

'No you won't Chihiro, the spirit world is dangerous, and you remember what Yubaba did to your parents last time…'

'-But I want to go'

'Chihiro, honestly I don't know what I would do if anything were to happen to you…'

'Haku! I've just got you back! Please don't make me lose you again…' she pleaded.

'I can't be there to protect you, you can't go' he said.

'I'm a big girl, almighty river spirit, I can take care of myself', Chihiro countered, huffing irately at Haku's stubbornness.

'Fine!' he shot back. By now they had reached the stone entrance and Haku had turned abruptly and marched in leaving Chihiro standing at the entrance alone.

'….Haku?' Chihiro called out hesitantly, not sure whether she was supposed to follow him or if she was supposed to wait for him to return to her and tell her it was okay to cross. Countless of times before Chihiro had tried to cross the field by day and river by night, in hopes of meeting Haku again, though each time she had tried she could never get across. It was like there was an invisible barrier that prevented her from going any further.

'Alright, come in, you have to hurry it's almost night time' Haku's voice echoed from within the entrance. Like it had been six years before, Chihiro felt a sense of familiarity as the uneasy rustle of the wind coaxed her into entering the cave once more. A shiver ran up her spine as she cautiously took steps until she appeared on the other side of a beautiful field, though it had been dark moments before, it was now unimaginably bright and sunny. Haku appeared before her, fed her the berry that she assumed would keep her from turning translucent and fading into nothing like she almost had before and took her hand in his as he shifted into his dragon form and flew across the field to the other side just as the bathhouse lights turned on and the spirit world awakened.

--

**So, how was that? Don't forget to review and let me know :)**


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